Cyprus intends to utilise the new opportunities so that the Southeastern Mediterranean Corridor evolves into an additional and trustworthy provider of energy for Europe, Cypriot Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Neoclis Sylikiotis has said.

Addressing the International Forum on “Creating a Competitive Integrated Regional Energy Market in the ΜΕΝΑ Region: The Contribution of the Energy Charter”, which took place on September 20 in Rabat, Morocco, Sylikiotis assured that “the Cypriot Presidency of the EU Council has set as a top priority reaching an agreement on the proposed Regulation for Trans-European Energy Infrastructure.”

“Regarding the creation of a new legal and regulative framework for energy cooperation in the Mediterranean, the Cypriot Presidency supports the conclusions of the Council of November 24, 2011, regarding the strengthening of the external dimension of the EU energy policy and submitting a proposal to the partners for the creation of a regional EU-South Mediterranean energy partnership, which will initially focus on electricity and the development of the market for renewable energy sources by the year 2020,” he said.

He added that “some member states and regions in Europe, such as Cyprus, continue to remain isolated from the trans-European networks and thus face technical restrictions, especially for introducing renewable energy to national electricity networks.”

“At the same time, all member states have the right to enhance their energy pool, especially with the exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits in their exclusive economic zone, with the transportation of conventional or unconventional natural gas to other EU member states or third countries and finally with the import or export of electricity,” he noted.

Sylikiotis said that the recent discovery of large quantities of natural gas in Cyprus and the Levantine basin create new opportunities and give a fresh impetus to the role of the Eastern Mediterranean on the global energy map, and that Cyprus intends to utilise these new opportunities.

He referred to the energy crisis of the EU, the Middle East and Northern Africa, noting that the conditions that resulted from the global financial and energy crisis, as well as international political developments, lead to the necessity for global energy management.

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